Cholrinator full of pucks, but no chlorine in pool

[timmie]

I have a new chlorinator. I went away for two days and checked my pool. The pool was cloudy and the chlorinator was full of pucks. Does anyone know why this is happening?the meter on the chlorintor was set to 3. I had no reading of chlorine in my pool . The reading showed that I had none. I added bleach and some shock, waitied a few days and vacumned. It did not look like this was algae and my pool is still a bit cloudy and it is now a week. My chlorine went up to 10 or higher when I added bleach. I also added borax to bring my ph up to 7.4.
Thanks in advance.

[jtnaylor]

I think it may be air in your chlorinator. I was told to burp mine every time I load it up.

Load it with pucks - put the lid on loosely - then fire up the pumps and turn the dial up high until it pushes all the air out and water starts shooting out of the lid. Then tighten it down and set it to 3 or wherever you normally have it.

That should take care of it.

[aylad]

What is your CYA level? If it was already high, then chlorine of 3 may not be enough to keep the algae gone, which would explain the 0 chlorine and cloudy water.......

Janet

[timmie]

JTnaylor,
Am I supposed to fill the chlorinator to the top with the pucks?? The water level in the chlorinator doesnt go that high. I will try what you suggested.............and my CYA was were it was supposed to be.

[Vinyl_Guy]

Timmie,

Let me preface this by saying as we don't know exactly what brand, make, model or design of chlorinator I'm assuming a few things about it .

Since it's a "new" chlorinator could you have assembled it incorrectly? I'm not trying to be insulting, it's just that I've seen it done, and done it myself a few times. Left becomes right, in becomes out, for just a split second, and BAM the thing won't work. Leaving you scratching your head and not seeing the obvious. I've done it.

If it's a typical Hayward dial type, there's not much assembly but there's some small details that can be overlooked.

Did you install the fittings incorrectly if its an "offline" unit. There's a check valve and an adapter. They look similar and have the same threads. The check valve or "inlet valve" should go on the side of the unit that is receiving the water to prevent it from letting chlorine back into your system. Is this inlet valve backwards? It can be in the correct location (side of unit), but in backwards as to not let proper water pressure into the unit. The adapter goes on the outbound side, and usually doesn't have any type of "valve" function. Check the arrow indicators on the body of the unit itself for flow orientation. Some where on it, should be the word "FLOW" with arrows associated with it.

Is it plumbed in with the correct orientation for the "Flow"? Somewhere on the body of the unit itself there should be arrows indicating which way the flow is going, is it backwards? If it's an "inline" one this could be a pain to reverse, but offline it's a simply undoing the "tube" connections and reversing it.

If it's an "offline" did you take the inbound feed from a "pipe" that was on the pressure side of the pump? Not a suction side.

I never recommended filling these things chuck full of pucks. Unless your going away on vacation and leaving the pool unattended . The chlorine levels tend to get far too high inside them if the ratio of water to pucks is too lopsided. It makes things brittle faster and can build pressure if your not careful. It also makes them rather dangerous when opening , due to potential pressure and the concentration of chlorine levels. Half full is fine, and then adjust the dial accordingly because the concentration is going to be less.

[jtnaylor]

Hi there - Vinyl_Guy is the pro on this stuff and he's got all the good advice. So definitely check out everything he stated in his post.

I had a chlorinator installed last year when my new liner was put in. I forget the brand - but anyway... if I don't "burp" the stupid thing then it doesn't seem to work very well.

Another thing is mine had the inlet for the water from the pump on the top and bottom as well. You could bring the water in either place and plug the other. The pool company had it going in the bottom one. That didn't seem to get enough chlorine in the pool so I switched it. Now even on a really low setting it works great.

Vinyl_guy brings up something I never thought of - NOT filling the thing completely full of pucks. I've always done that. I think mine holds 10 and I always jam the sucker full. I think I'll start going half full and if that works just as well then I'll go that route from now on.

Good luck with it.

[aylad]

.and my CYA was were it was supposed to be.

I was looking more for a number.......

Janet